Business & Entrepreneurship

If politics were like high school, Republicans would be the football stars and Democrats would be chess club captains. Those stereotypes are the easiest way to summarize part of the conclusions made by a marketing professor at the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis.

Marketing students, faculty and community members at the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis will critique the television commercials that air during the Super Bowl during the 8th annual “Super Advertising Bowl.” For pre-game action and a presentation by Schupp Company about making commercials effective, join the Olin community for a panel discussion on Super Bowl Sunday, February 3, 2008, from 3:30p.m. – 4:15p.m. Members of the media are welcome to attend the panel and stay for food, drinks and the game, which will be broadcast via large-screen televisions.

Students from the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis will present their ideas and debate possible outcomes to the European Commission in a mock-parliament in Brussels on Feb. 1. The deputy head of mission from the Croatian ambassador to the EU will give introductory remarks at the mock-parliament. Officials from the EU and the City of London will be in attendance as well as professors from the Cass Business School.

WUSTL has received a commitment of $1 million from Robert and Julie Skandalaris to create and support the Skandalaris Center Internship Program. The gift will sustain the internship program for the next 10 years and will enable 20 interns per year to participate in an intensive summer experience.

Reversing the longstanding case law would give undue windfall to opportunistic third parties, says Kieff.The U.S. Supreme Court is reviewing Quanta v. LG, a case that could determine the future direction of patent law. “This case is key to ensuring that patent law develops in a way that best promotes innovation and competition,” says F. Scott Kieff, J.D., professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. Kieff and colleagues have filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court in support of LG, arguing that under contract law the patent holder had a right to sue a downstream purchaser. Kieff will be closely following this case and is available for comment.

Discounts are no way to increase business.Price promotions may not be the best way to increase sales of canned tuna — or any other frequently purchased consumer good. Managers can become overly focused on losing market share and get caught up in a mindless cycle of discounting — without regard to the long-term implications of their actions, according to marketing professors at the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis.

As the number of foreclosures on homes purchased with a subprime mortgage continues to grow, the chatter from Washington and big business is focused on a way to slow, or even reverse, the trend. However, bailing out the industry isn’t necessarily the way to go, according to a finance professor at the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis.

Helium is drifting away.In America, helium is running out of gas. The element that lifts things like balloons, spirits and voice ranges is being depleted so rapidly in the world’s largest reserve, outside of Amarillo, Texas, that supplies are expected to be depleted there within the next eight years. This deflates more than the Goodyear blimp and party favors. Its larger impact is on science and technology, according to Lee Sobotka, Ph.D., professor of chemistry and physics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.

The Skandalaris Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at Washington University in St. Louis has announced the semi-finalists in the 2008 Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation Competition. This year’s semi-finalists represent a range of proposals including of a group of college students with a plan to provide counseling and mentoring services for low-income students, to an established nonprofit with a proposal for a mixed-use small business incubator.

Coffee shop encounters could lead to new business ideas.Clustering similar firms in a relatively small geographic area is a common economic development tactic. Research from a business professor at Washington University in St. Louis shows the strategy is most effective when companies are within 500 meters of each other. After that, the benefits of proximity quickly lose its power.